James O'Brien

Hockey Daily Dose

Ray of Hope from Raycroft

Both Kirk Muller and Dale Hunter have started their respective tenures 0-2-0, which might mean something to Paul Maurice but probably not much to the already-employed Bruce Boudreau. The Carolina Hurricanes dropped a 5-3 game to the New York Rangers while the Washington Capitals only managed a single goal against the hated Pittsburgh Penguins in a 2-1 loss.

For Carolina, the bright side is that Eric Staal recorded two assists, but the negative news is that Cam Ward continues to struggle. He allowed five goals on just 27 shots as the Rangers didn’t even need to start Henrik Lundqvist to get the win.

Washington’s worries might be greater, although they’ve lost both games to red-hot opponents in St. Louis and Pittsburgh. Hunter spoke of being all about defense and aggressiveness rather than playing a run-and-gun style, but he has to be greatly worried that Washington was held to a paltry 17 shots on goal. In both of Hunter’s games, the Caps were held under 20 shots.

Again, this is a small sample size, but there's no question that many fantasy owners were hoping that the two troubled teams would experience at least a brief period of great play instead of continuing their lulls.

IS THE DOOR BACK OPEN FOR LUONGO?

Few goalies have been hotter than Cory Schneider has been lately, but he finally hit a brick wall in the form of the Nashville Predators last night. Schneider was pulled from Thursday’s game, but to be fair, so was Pekka Rinne. Roberto Luongo allowed three goals on top of Schneider’s three to allow Nashville a wacky 6-5 win, so it’s not like he made an amazing statement to take back his job. Still, Luongo is getting paid the big bucks, so the Canucks are likely looking for any reason to inject him back into the No. 1 spot. We’ll see if this game starts a chain reaction in that direction.

QUICK HITS

Blake Comeau scored a goal and assist, so maybe he can put his horrendous start to the season behind him now that he’s with Calgary. I’d recommend waiting a little while to make sure that it wasn't just one decent game in a series of awful ones … Curtis Sanford notched another win, so it looks like he’s still at least a good short-term option. If the Blue Jackets are smart, he’ll be in the picture for most of – if not all of – the regular season … Good on Nikita Nikitin. After a rough game earlier this week, he scored a goal and added two assists for Columbus … Eric Nystrom’s nine goals have been impressive, but he doesn’t get enough ice time (none on the PP, basically) to justify jumping on that bandwagon. The same likely goes for Jason Chimera … Ryan McDonagh is playing well, but those opportunities might decline when the Rangers get healthier … He’s been pretty bad this season, but keep an eye on Ondrej Pavelec. He netted a shutout last night and has the motivation of a contract year in the back of his head, so a hot streak isn’t (totally) crazy to consider. (I'm not saying that you should add him right away, though. Watch from afar, if he's available.

Earlier this week, I recommended caution when it came to Andrew Raycroft’s viability. I now feel pretty confident in saying that he’s an interesting short term option though, especially for people who are hoping to fill a void left behind by Kari Lethonen.

Dallas Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said that Raycroft will get a Lehtonen-like set of starts while the Finn is absent. Raycroft seems primed to be in net for all the upcoming games that aren’t back-to-back matches, which means it might be safe to assume he’ll play on Dec. 3 (home vs. Islanders), Dec. 8 (at San Jose), Dec. 10 (at Los Angeles) and probably Dec. 13 (at Rangers). After that, the Stars have back-to-back games (Dec. 15 at Islanders, Dec. 16 at New Jersey), so Richard Bachman should get at least one of those nods.

That’s 4-5 starts in the next two weeks, although the competition is going to get tougher than the two beatable teams (Colorado on Monday, Ottawa on Thursday) that Raycroft earned wins against as the interim No. 1 guy. It’s safe to say that he probably won’t hold opponents to 1.5 goals per game once he faces tougher road and home challenges.

Still, if you’re desperate for a quick fix, Raycroft isn’t a horrible option by any means. In fact, the three-week estimate for Lehtonen’s return may very well be overly optimistic. Raycroft could get plenty of reps in the month of December for all we know.

Again, I’d like to emphasize that Raycroft isn’t a superstar and isn’t likely to put up fantasy-friendly stats every night. Don’t count on him to do too much, but if you need a quick fix for a third goalie or other depth option, then he’s probably worth a shot. He might even surprise you, but a lot of that will hinge on how the Stars play in front of him.

Sean Bergenheim caught Richards with a questionable hit to the head and Richards didn’t return to the game, so it’s natural to wonder if Richards might be suffering the same fate that usually falls upon his victims. (That would be a concussion.)

It’s not a sure thing by any means, but the instinct is to worry about that whenever someone gets hit in the noggin these days. Stay tuned with Rotoworld this weekend for updates about his condition, if the Kings are even remotely forthcoming.

After the jump: Muller and Hunter remain winless, quick hits and injury news.

NO WINS FOR THE NEW GUYS

Both Kirk Muller and Dale Hunter have started their respective tenures 0-2-0, which might mean something to Paul Maurice but probably not much to the already-employed Bruce Boudreau. The Carolina Hurricanes dropped a 5-3 game to the New York Rangers while the Washington Capitals only managed a single goal against the hated Pittsburgh Penguins in a 2-1 loss.

For Carolina, the bright side is that Eric Staal recorded two assists, but the negative news is that Cam Ward continues to struggle. He allowed five goals on just 27 shots as the Rangers didn’t even need to start Henrik Lundqvist to get the win.

Washington’s worries might be greater, although they’ve lost both games to red-hot opponents in St. Louis and Pittsburgh. Hunter spoke of being all about defense and aggressiveness rather than playing a run-and-gun style, but he has to be greatly worried that Washington was held to a paltry 17 shots on goal. In both of Hunter’s games, the Caps were held under 20 shots.

Again, this is a small sample size, but there's no question that many fantasy owners were hoping that the two troubled teams would experience at least a brief period of great play instead of continuing their lulls.

IS THE DOOR BACK OPEN FOR LUONGO?

Few goalies have been hotter than Cory Schneider has been lately, but he finally hit a brick wall in the form of the Nashville Predators last night. Schneider was pulled from Thursday’s game, but to be fair, so was Pekka Rinne. Roberto Luongo allowed three goals on top of Schneider’s three to allow Nashville a wacky 6-5 win, so it’s not like he made an amazing statement to take back his job. Still, Luongo is getting paid the big bucks, so the Canucks are likely looking for any reason to inject him back into the No. 1 spot. We’ll see if this game starts a chain reaction in that direction.

QUICK HITS

Blake Comeau scored a goal and assist, so maybe he can put his horrendous start to the season behind him now that he’s with Calgary. I’d recommend waiting a little while to make sure that it wasn't just one decent game in a series of awful ones … Curtis Sanford notched another win, so it looks like he’s still at least a good short-term option. If the Blue Jackets are smart, he’ll be in the picture for most of – if not all of – the regular season … Good on Nikita Nikitin. After a rough game earlier this week, he scored a goal and added two assists for Columbus … Eric Nystrom’s nine goals have been impressive, but he doesn’t get enough ice time (none on the PP, basically) to justify jumping on that bandwagon. The same likely goes for Jason Chimera … Ryan McDonagh is playing well, but those opportunities might decline when the Rangers get healthier … He’s been pretty bad this season, but keep an eye on Ondrej Pavelec. He netted a shutout last night and has the motivation of a contract year in the back of his head, so a hot streak isn’t (totally) crazy to consider. (I'm not saying that you should add him right away, though. Watch from afar, if he's available.